Columns

At long last, the smile of spring approaches, as an angry winter recedes into good riddance. Our spirit is ready to be re-charged. Damn the power outages, full speed ahead!
For my wife, Elyse, daughter, Elissa, and me, this otherwise exuberant time of year brings a confusion of mixed emotions. In 2003, on the opening day of spring, March 20, which happens to be my birthday, our 15-year-old son Harrison went in for his third open-heart surgery. As fate would have it, the day after my birthday was Harrison’s last day.
Such is life.

Since decorating mistakes can be very costly and time consuming, I always urge my clients to do their homework before undertaking any redecorating project.
What kind of homework? A good way to begin is to flip through design and decorating magazines, and visit websites dedicated to interior décor. Start collecting pictures of various design products and styles that appeal to you and you can visualize as your own. Once you start identifying colors, designs, and various furnishings that illustrate your dream room, ...

Where do I start? It’s been a crazy, stormy week, to say the least. Personally, my home was without power for just under a week. We got it back and poof! It was out again. I hope that none of us ever take our heat, hot water and lights for granted again. I can’t believe that I was ever irritated when just the cable went out! School is closed for yet another day. At this point, I think my daughter will be repeating kindergarten.
But all this quiet snowiness has gotten me thinking about how to make the best of it. Of course, in ...

Dear Dr. Linda,
I’m a school librarian and I wanted to remind your readers that March 2 was “Read Across America Day.” Teachers, librarians and others who read with children encourage schools, libraries and parents to celebrate this day with their children. This special date was chosen because it is the birthday of Dr. Seuss, the adored children’s author. That alone makes children smile and encourages them to pick up a book and read. Thanks so much!
Nancy
Dear Nancy,
Thanks so much for reminding us ...

Dana Stahl, a learning specialist and educational consultant, will address educational questions and concerns that parents may have regarding their children’s academic development and progress in school. Topics can center on such concerns as how to handle homework dilemmas or what questions to ask at a CSE meeting. Questions can range from “How best do parents advocate for their children?” to “How do parents interpret formal tests that have been administered?” to “Which schools and colleges are right for my ...

2 Hollowbrook Place, Cortlandt
$550,000.00
This unique 3 family home boasts tremendous curb appeal with a stone and brick exterior. Each unit offers 2 spacious bedrooms, 1 updated full bath, updated kitchens, separate entrances and separate patios. Two of the three units have beautiful brick and stone fireplaces that create a warm and cozy atmosphere in the living rooms. There is plenty of backyard space for tenants to use and ample parking via 1 car attached garage, driveway, gravel parking lot on side of house. Additional unit used ...

Thank God March is already underway. And with it, pristine snowdrops and teeny fields of crocuses. For the last three weeks, here or there, as I drove through town, I have also spotted some witch hazel blossoming in full golden glory, the earliest tree to flower each year, a herald of the coming spring. Such a relief to the eyes and the senses when the color returns to the landscape.
Just two more weeks until the spring equinox arrives. And we will have officially made it through yet another winter. And the soft time in the year will ...

There is this thing that I do that annoys the heck out of my family. Well, to be honest, there are a lot of things I do that annoy the heck out of my family, but I am thinking of one thing in particular.
Whenever someone is in the bathroom for what I determine to be an abnormally long period of time, I stand outside the bathroom door and yell,
“EVERYTHING OK IN THERE?”
I don’t know if it’s a woman thing or a mom thing or a Jewish thing, or maybe a combination of all three. It’s definitely not a guy thing ...

In early February, from somewhere deep in Florida, near the principal’s office, a call comes out over the PA system: “Pitchers and catchers please report as soon as possible!” And from all over the land, they drop what they’re doing and head to the Sunshine State, the only people under 50 to arrive in large numbers without their grandparents first complaining that they don’t visit enough. The long baseball season has begun.
I see this annual event as a more significant weather harbinger than Groundhog Day. When ...

We spend so much time teaching our children not to bully one another and not to gossip, but all too often adults don’t practice what they preach, especially given the often toxic and viral nature of social media.
Given the series of events last week regarding a disputed story involving the Somers girls and Yorktown boys lacrosse players, it seems that Somers school administrators were bullied into making premature statements.
Many people are so quick to judge—and to judge publicly—without any deference to due process ...

OK, you know that I am working on losing 10 pounds before summer vacation and every weekend I cheat on my diet. I felt a little guilty about that and invariably yelled at myself every Sunday night. I found out that this is not unusual and may actually help us wannabe skinnies stay on our program in the long run.
Two trusted authorities told me that it’s actually GOOD to cheat! A mechanism that help us relieve the pressure on a regular basis when we are working toward a goal actually helps us to maintain our efforts and make ...

Thanks to New York State Electric & Gas and Mother Nature, I spent last week in New Jersey at my daughter Lisa’s home. Her sister and brother-in-law, Ilene and Curtis, drove me there on Saturday, then went back to Somers on Sunday, March 4.
Although I dislike talking about my health, the main reason I was in New Jersey is because I sometimes use oxygen and the machine needs electricity to function. I thought my stay would be shorter, but now they’re predicting another storm to hit the Eastern Coast. I had to leave Pyewacket ...

“Just this side of Heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge. When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge.”
Anonymous
Fifteen years ago, son George adopted six-week-old kittens he named Sammy and Roxy. Sadly, Sammy recently became ill and George had to make the decision most pet owners dread at some point: ease his pet’s suffering and help him cross Rainbow Bridge. I share with you George’s thoughts of and responses to this moving and heart-rending ...